'Engagement Series' makes enlightening visit to PTA lab

Published 01.24.2023

News
Nursing & Health Sciences
Faculty & Staff
Physical Therapist Assistant

Kimberly S. Cordrey, Lumley Aviation Center secretary, appreciates the difficulty of maneuvering a wheelchair.Hurwitz welcomes college co-workers to an informative program overview.Employees gather around to learn (and feel) how an electrical stimulation unit can strengthen muscles of the body. Back row (from left): Christof Keebaugh, assistant professor of physics; Elizabeth P. Waugh, librarian, virtual and distance learning initiatives; and Jan E. Twardowski, admissions assistant, applications and data control. Foreground (from left): Jennifer A. Cline, writer/magazine editor; Angela S. Frontz, coordinator of tutoring; and Snyder-Everitt.The latest session in People & Culture's Pride Engagement Series – focused on the physical therapist assistant program at Penn College – was hosted last week by Victoria Hurwitz, director; Sheryl E. Snyder-Everitt and Mary T. Stout, faculty members; and Christine A. Tilburg, clinical director.

Hurwitz provides instruction to Frontz and Keebaugh on proper body mechanics for bending and lifting.Twardowski experiences electrical stimulation, which causes a non-painful involuntary muscle contraction of the wrist and finger extensors.Snyder-Everitt (left) allows Myra K. Shaffer, college relations and foundation assistant, to try out the program’s fluidotherapy unit, which circulates heat and increases blood flow around sore joints.Participants were able to explore different techniques and equipment in the PTA program: what correct posture looks like when standing or sitting at a desk, proper lifting techniques, the challenge of using a wheelchair, and how fluidotherapy and an electrical simulation unit are helpfully employed.

The next stop on the Pride Engagement Series itinerary will be plastics & polymer engineering technology, from 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb 14.

Photos provided by Mattie L. Pulizzi, manager of employee engagement